At my get-to-know Tim Leiweke lunch in November, the man in charge of just about everything was articulating all he was going to change about Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, only occasionally taking a breath, when he put down his fork to emphasize a point.

“Can I tell you something?” he started, and before I could answer he began to tell me something. He was that excited.

“We’re going after this guy. It’s big. I’m telling you, it’s big. If I get the guy I think we can get, it’s going to change everything.”

By now my fork was down. I asked who the player was.

He wouldn’t give me a name. “You may know it,” he said, not knowing I wouldn’t know it. He then described just about everything about the player. How small he was. How skilled he was.

“You’re going to love this guy,” he said, not knowing there isn’t much I love about soccer, let alone care about the beautiful game. “If we get him, you’re going to be going to Toronto FC games. Believe me.”